SEATTLE , Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The homeless men and women shuffle across the frozen ground of the tent camp and surround a steel drum burning wood . They use the flames to cook food and to stay warm .

The tents in Seattle are covered with tarps and plastic sheets to help keep out the elements .

The tents they live in are small , covered by tarps and plastic sheeting to keep water out . Several tents are collapsed under the weight of a recent snowfall .

For Bruce Beavers , however , this camp is just about the best place in the world he could be living right now .

`` This is a place for people who lose their jobs , lose their houses , to have some kind of structure and for them to get back out in the world , '' he says .

Set up in the parking lot of a church near Seattle , Washington , the camp houses anywhere from 50 to 100 homeless people each day .

Residents call it Nickelsville . The name takes a page from the infamous `` Hooverville '' shantytowns of the Great Depression that were named for a president many thought did not care about their economic hardships . Watch resident give tour , explain rules ''

Some residents here say they blame Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and a system they believe makes it difficult to escape homelessness .

`` In shelters , if you do n't get there in time enough , you do n't have your bed no more 'cause there are so many people trying to rush in to get it , '' Beavers says . `` Got a lotta people losing their homes . You do n't want to go all the way to the bottom . Nickelsville is kind of a catch in between . ''

Like many of the other Nickelodeons -- as the people who share this church parking lot call themselves -- Bruce Beavers never expected to be homeless . He managed warehouses and hardware stores , had a 401 -LRB- k -RRB- plan and owned his home . But Beavers said he lived beyond his means and eventually lost everything .

Beavers and other homeless say they were tired of a shelter system that often splits up families into different housing , does not provide a place for people to keep their possessions while they look for work and offers too few beds . So they say they decided to try their own way .

They formed a camp where the homeless living there would know they had a guaranteed place to stay . There would be around-the-clock security to keep people from having their things stolen , the tents would be built from donated materials , and alcohol and drugs would not be permitted . It would be a place for people trying to get out of homelessness .

Evan Balverde is a plumber who came to Nickelsville after an accident forced him to stop working .

`` We do n't just take in everybody , '' Balverde says . `` We 'd like to , but the thing is just a lot of these people out here are mentally incapable or they 're drug addicts or alcoholics and stuff , and that 's why they are on the streets . We do n't put up with that .

`` We 're here for people in rough times and homeless , but if you are doing it to yourself , then this is n't the place for you . ''

The dubious legality of the camp set the organizers on a collision course with the city , and several times police have moved the Nickelodeons off the land on which they were squatting . An invitation to relocate the camp outside a local church gave Nickelsville a reprieve , at least for the time being .

Johnny Turner , a homeless man who helped found the camp , says he would like to see Nickelsville grow into a permanent shelter that could accept more people needing a place to go .

`` We need more Nickelsvilles , '' he says . `` There 's nowhere else . '' See photos of Depression-era tent cities ''

Al Poole of the Seattle Human Services Department says the city spends nearly $ 8 million a year on the homeless . Still , there are n't always beds available for every person needing one , and sometimes families do need to be placed in different shelters .

While tent cities might fulfill an immediate need , Poole explains , they also can have the negative effect of turning people who live near the camps against the homeless .

Walking around the neighborhood that borders Nickelsville , it is hard to imagine that many residents are happy that their homes now face a homeless camp .

And many residents were upset , says homeowner Roland Bradley , when the camp first arrived at their street .

`` We had a meeting at the church the week before they came , '' Bradley says . `` One of the concerns that people had was about crime and people breaking into their home and children being molested and noise . But that has n't happened . ''

Motioning to the camp , Bradley adds : `` The reality is that could be us one day . ''

@highlight

Tent city in Seattle , Washington , houses 50 to 100 people

@highlight

Residents say they formed tent city because of dissatisfaction with shelters

@highlight

`` We do n't just take in everybody , '' resident says

@highlight

Nearby homeowner says of tent city dwellers : `` That could be us one day ''